Chris Daughtry didn't realize he had vocal talent until he was in his early teens. "But I always had this dream of doing something big," he says. "And I knew that doing anything big would require me to leave the small town I grew up in." Hence Leave This Town, the title of his band Daughtry's new album, out today. It's the follow-up to his self-titled 2006 debut, which went five-times platinum.

After eight seasons and almost 100 finalists, a week rarely passes without new music from a former 'American Idol'contestant. USA TODAY combs through summer's 'Idol'-heavy release schedule in search of titles to tide fans over while they await albums from Kris Allen and Adam Lambert.

Celine Dion lowers her lean frame into an overstuffed hotel suite couch and describes her dream. "I had a vision. I was in the front row at the Academy Awards with my mother, husband and son, and I won an Oscar for my role as Maria Callas," says Dion, 39, conjuring up the ill-fated Greek opera diva whose story haunts the Canadian siren.

Don't expect anything too rebellious when Celine Dion claims to be pushing the envelope. She's not rapping with 50 Cent, gyrating at a stripper's pole or shopping at T.J. Maxx, but she is stepping out of our discomfort zone. On Taking Chances (* * * out of four), in stores Tuesday, the Canadian songbird relinquishes her throne as queen of the air-raid sirens.

A female singer in her teens emerges seemingly overnight with a multiplatinum smash, winning millions of fans and launching scores of imitators. A couple of years pass and, poised on the brink of adulthood, she must release a new album that proves her initial success was no fluke and shows signs of personal and creative growth.

Amy Lee and her band, Evanescence, are surviving without guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody. Moody left the group in October, packing his bags the morning before a concert in Berlin and catching a plane out of the country.